Bitten By the Travel Bug


mmm... the Travel Bugs

mmm... the Travel Bugs

Random Observation/Comment #123:  It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact moment when I decided to actively incorporate traveling into my life.  I’ve always enjoyed going places and seeing new things, but there was that side of me that loved the comfort and security of the familiar.  Torn between these two worlds, I teetered back and forth for years; sometimes living on the edge and other times having my ass positioned dead-center on that seat.  There must have been something significant that caused this disturbance in The Force.  Instead of the typical angel and demon on my shoulders, I have a Crocodile Dundee character with a thick Australian accent and a nerdy teenager playing a World of Warcraft level 42 Barbarian (I guess, to me, the opposite of an adventure-seeker is a person pretending to be an adventure-seeker through a video game).  Lately, that teenager went on a break and got a girlfriend or something.  His short screeches of paranoia and nasal-sounding warnings against risk-taking have been muffled by the deafening complaints of his “hunny” throwing tantrums and breaking furniture (no this is not the reason).  The reason is definitely positive towards traveling, and not negative against settling.  It happened sometime in Japan.  The overwhelming rush of learning a new language and culture opened a new side of my personality that I never saw – it was a person I found interesting with a life seen from a dozen different perspectives.  I don’t want that curiosity and desire of learning to ever be fully satisfied.  I realized, in those four months abroad, that knowing everything isn’t as fun as learning everything.

The travel bug may look like a fairly harmless creature at first glance, but unsuspecting students are easily susceptible to the highly contagious and serious condition commonly known as “the travel bug.”  The condition directly attacks the frontal lobe of the brain and can cause brilliant minds to make irrational long term decisions.  Once the disease is in the brain’s system, it is impossible to counteract without the treatment discussed later.

Common symptoms include absent-mindedness, day dreaming, and a desire to be more adventurous with food.  More severe conditions may involve uncontrollable creative writing exercises, multiple cascaded bookmark folders filled with travel information, obsessions with photography, joining online social networks to meet new people that also enjoy traveling, continuously finding excuses to shift topics of conversation back to traveling, and constantly bringing procrastination to new dimensions of existence.

This disease is very contagious, but has a unique method of transmission.  Although physical interaction aids the process, the condition can only be spread with verbal or visual communication.  Adventurous stories and thousands-upon-thousands of pictures posted with detailed descriptions of these experiences can easily transmit the disease.  To avoid the effects of exposure, it is recommended that realistic thoughts regarding monetary and time restrictions are constantly reviewed during and after these conversations.  Early stages begin with thoughts about saving vacation days to take long trips or researching airfares for possible means of escaping the daily routines.

The condition is not fatal, but should be treated immediately.  The recommended treatment is the full indulgence of the experience in a foreign country with a backpack and a guidebook.  Common side effects of this treatment may include, but are not limited to: kickass times, frivolous spending of money, a deeper understanding of new cultures, greater appreciation of life, and unforgettable memories.

~See Lemons Find a Cure

Angus eating the travel bug

Angus eating the travel bug